New Antarctic Research Station

Big Picture/Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station
Photo courtesy of Rhys Boulton, National Science Foundation

At the bottom of the world, atop an ice sheet 2 miles thick, sits the new Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. This elevated research station is by far the largest of three that have been constructed since 1956. Besides being above the frozen Antarctic surface, the station's underside includes winglike properties that force winds blowing underneath it to speed up. This results in the natural dispersion of snow that would otherwise build up around the structure. Scientists living at the station are studying, among other things, climate change, seismology and astronomy.